while i think this is good news, it is too early to speak of the result.does anyone know of the infrastructure/present financial status of the house of vionnet. i once read an article that the founding designer died a pauper in isolation. I know its probably now owned by someone with a bottomless cashpot but are they willing to spend. what will sophia do? will she develop a new identity for the house (like ghesquire did at balenciaga or will it be a givenchy kind of situation where she is beholden to the bias cut grecian style of the house?)
softgrey, i can tell you the reason(s) why it is so difficut for younger designers to design under thier own name. while this list is not exhaustive here are a few.
a lot of schools do not teach designers the skillsets neccessary to start thier own businesses. (that is why thier is such a high rate of failed startups in fashion, i am sure you can name at least twenty, yes 20, startups in the last four or five years that were heralded with much fanfare that you hear nothing about now.
the fundamental skills neccessary to survive this business are becoming obsolete. i interviewd with one PR. company where the lady just stopped short of calling me a liar.she could not understand how i could consistently produce collections every season since s/s 2002, sell very little and still be in business while having no money. (she couldnt believe i did almost everything fom illustration, draping, patternmaking ,sewing samples, merchandising the line and producing the shows almost entirely by myself. and still find time to do the orders for the three or four stores that i sell to.)
if i had been born in an indusrialized contry like the USA or England i probably would not have aquired these skills and would have gone to school learned how to illustrate and been graduated as a designer, but could not sew a garment or cut a pattern to save my life.these are the ppl you get as designers today. illustrators.
this is the reason many go to thrift stores and copy garments and refrence other ppls work because they do not know how to cut fabric, how to drape or how to even make a basic pattern sloper.everything nowadays seems to be done on a computer!
it can easily run some designers $20,000 to produce a well made collection of 15-20 outfits and then the stores dont always buy, so for the first couple of years most designers are operating business at a loss and if sales dont increase they are forced to close it down when they are out of money or the backers loose patience. I thank God i dont have that problem. as long as i can buy fabric i can produce a collection. I always welcome and appreciate help but if it doesnt come i can and have been delivering the goods by myself
also, in the sixties and seventies fashion was more about creativity and talent than just hype and celebrity, designers grew thier business slowly over time, now everybody wants to be a star in two seasons (if they can wait that long) so the idea is to make a name quickly and land a job somewhere at a prestigious house where you are well paid and allowed to be as creative as you want to be. (i wish)
one of the most important factors though is that working under someone elses name free you of the financial stress that usually comes with your own line so that you can focus on designing the collerction. i am assuming that this is what will happen to sophia, i also hope they will provide her with a good team that she can truly succeed at this new task.
all the best to her
amazing newsbit, i'm so glad for her if she's actually working at Vionnet
